Town-wide food drive to be hosted in Strathmore

By John Watson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Volunteers within the Strathmore community will be taking to the streets Sept. 23 to collect donations for the Wheatland County Food Bank.

The food drive will be taking place in town concurrently with a similar drive in Calgary, raising donations for those who require food bank services. 

Prior to the start of the drive on the 23rd, volunteers will be distributing collection bags to residents to fill with non-perishable food items. 

“What will happen is volunteers will be going around and dropping off a bag with donation instructions to each home within Strathmore. Obviously, we can’t do that with those who live in apartment complexes, so we will just be going to single family dwellings,” said Jonathan Taylor, one of the active volunteers for the drive. “Families that are interested in donating, can fill those bags with non-perishable food items. In there with the donation instructions – there is a list of items that are in need by the Wheatland County Food Bank.”

Bags will be delivered to residents of Strathmore between Sept. 19 and 21. Those wishing to participate should leave their donation bags on their doorstep or somewhere visible from the street by 9:30 a.m. on Sept. 23. Volunteers will be driving around town that morning to collect the donation bags.

Alternatively, families can take their donations directly to the Wheatland County Food Bank between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 23.

“If for whatever reason your donation gets missed, you can take your donation over to the Strathmore Co-op. They will have a food donation bin where the food can be dropped off,” said Taylor.

Also included with the donation instructions will be an opportunity to provide a cash donation if that is a more preferable method to some residents. 

There will be a QR code located in the collection bag which will take a user directly to the online donation page in support of the food bank. 

Taylor explained cash donations are extremely valuable to the food bank, as they can use the money to fill donation gaps and supplement themselves with whatever they need.

The drive in Strathmore, Taylor added, was started after a group of volunteers noticed Calgary’s drive, and wanted to see something similar established in the local community. 

Though no formal goal has been set, Taylor said it would be extremely exciting to see $10,000 worth of food and cash donations made to the Wheatland County Food Bank. 

“We reached out to the Wheatland County Food Bank to see if it would be helpful and they said yes,” he said. “They were wanting to organize one this year, they just did not have necessarily the manpower, the time or the ability this year. It worked out well that there was a need and we were able to help.”

Depending on the results of the drive, the team may aim to host the event annually. This year, there are 40 routes for volunteers to take, each with approximately 112 homes to stop at. 

Those who wish to volunteer and help out with the drive can contact Taylor at 403-542-5867.